The community of New Bothwell now has a giant, new, welcome sign greeting motorists as they drive into the community from the north or south.

The signs were erected just this last week and were spearheaded by the local councillor. Travis Doerksen, who represents the New Bothwell area for the Rural Municipality of Hanover, says when he drives into other communities in the area, many of them have a welcome sign displaying a logo or brand that is unique to that location. 

"Talking to some of the old timers in (New Bothwell), we have never had a brand," says Doerksen. "Our community has never had a brand or a logo or anything."

So, Doerksen took it upon himself to come up with a logo and display it on a new welcome sign. He notes normally this sort of project might fall into the lap of a Local Urban District committee, but because New Bothwell only formed its LUD committee on the night of the municipal election, Doerksen took on the responsibility.

He decided to organize a logo contest, noting it was important to him that local students and members of the community have a say.

"Because it's really their community," he states. "So, it was really important for me to get their input on designing something that we could use."

Doerksen says he received a whole bunch of entries before three winners were selected.

"It actually turned out phenomenal," he says. "Then, what we did is we took it to a local professional who then based on those three winners designed a logo around those."

Doerksen says it was fun and exciting to see the final design. The signs were then put up this last week and he says they have already been receiving a lot of positive feedback. The signs are along Provincial Road 216, at either end of the community.

According to Doerksen, the logo will get a lot more use than just on the welcome signs. He expects the logos to be used on clothing and worn by volunteers at community functions. Doerksen says this logo will probably also be used by the rec centre and his hope is that maybe it can also find its way onto a road sign. 

"I know the company we hired to create this logo did a fantastic job and gave us many options that we can run with," explains Doerksen. "It's just a really exciting time for us to build on a brand and there's a lot of options and stuff that we can do with it. So, it's really good."

Doerksen says he is still waiting on a couple of invoices but expects the new signs could cost up to $18,000. He notes the money comes from the LUD of New Bothwell budget, as well as from his discretionary fund as a Hanover Councillor.